Digital ecosystems: Enabling same-day delivery
May 10, 2018
May 10, 2018
Customer expectations are changing every day in the digital world. Where lengthy shipping times were once the norm, industry disruptors have raised the bar, and now customers expect same-day delivery services without additional shipping costs. In fact, there have been several recent studies to quantify this shift:
Many companies are attempting to solve for this same-day delivery conundrum by developing individual supply chain capabilities on their own, and they are struggling with the cost structure. In fact, according to a study conducted by eMarketer, although it is widely accepted that fast and free shipping has become an ecommerce imperative, only 10 percent of CEOs say they are able to make a profit while fulfilling omnichannel demand because of delivery and other supply chain complexities. This is down from 16 percent in 2014.3
For most of these companies, supply chain is not a core competency. Developing the right strategies, tools, processes and infrastructure requires unique skills that are not available in-house. So how will supply chain leaders satisfy customer expectations before they lose more business to the competition?
So, what is this digital ecosystem? An ecosystem is the network of cross-industry players who work together to define, build and execute market-creating customer and consumer solutions. An ecosystem is defined by the depth and breadth of potential collaboration among a set of players: Each can deliver a piece of the consumer solution, or contribute a necessary capability. The power of the ecosystem is that no single player need own or operate all components of the solution, and that the value the ecosystem generates is larger than the combined value each of the players could contribute individually.
In Accenture Strategy’s recent research, we found that 84 percent of companies believe that ecosystems are important or critical to their strategy of disruption and 77 percent agree that companies will generate half or more of their revenue from ecosystems in the next five years.4
A same-day delivery ecosystem can enable a faster go-to-market strategy.
The take-away: Same-day delivery is rapidly becoming, if not already is, “table stakes” for the direct-to-consumer fulfillment model. To provide the requisite prowess and scale to delight customers and offer this capability more profitably, companies should take advantage of the new thinking on technology platforms, analytics-driven insights and ecosystem partnerships.
1 Accenture Strategy, Communications Media & Technology Operations Research, Consumer Insights, 2017
2 DotCom Distribution, Driving Customer Loyalty with Fast Delivery and Quality Packaging (2016)
3 eMarketer, Global Retailers Still Haven't Cracked the Code on Their Digital Strategy (2017)
4 Accenture Strategy, Cornerstone of Future Growth: Ecosystems, 2018